premiums? I believe we may be eligible to continue our current coverages with Kaiser when my spouse retires, but the premium will be $1200 monthly. What can we do to get affordable health care? We both have preexisting conditions, and although we are healthy, it makes health care almost out of our reach, when we both have conditions which require several visits to health care providers annually.

I dont know much about how health care works in the US ... you mention retirement age ... does not one switch to medicare then? There are websites that compare health benefit costs, maybe search for that and see what the going premiums are. 1200/month is a lot.

No clue on what it would be- but healthcare.org has comparisons. I think you need to rethink your price range cause I don't think you are going to find anything less than $1200/mo. That isn't that much if you are both 'liabilities' to your pool with your preexisting conditions. We never go to the dr and for us 2 kids ago and a high deductible no maternity policy it was $800/mo. And we were both way younger than retirement age (so we canceled:). I think you have a good thing going right now.

Iowaorganic- mama to DD (1/5/06), DS1 (4/9/07), DS2 (1/22/09), DS3 (12/10/10), DD2 (7/6/12) and a new kid due in early 2014

Could you stay within Kaiser (so you don't need to switch companies with pre-existing conditions) but look for a different plan? There are many, many different Kaiser plans available. You could find one with a lower monthly premium, but higher deductible, then set up a HSA to draw money from your account pre tax each month to use for doctor's visits. This is what we do for the kids and I because we could not afford the $900/month premium anymore, so we chose to go the deductible/HSA route instead. I find Kaiser's deductible pricing to be very reasonable.

If you are close to medicare age, then you would only need to do this for a few years, then could switch to Kaiser Senior Advantage as your Medicare Part B. I have a family member that is already doing that due to being on disability so she qualifies for medicare before 65, she has many pre-exisitng conditions and is finding it doable.

This is going to depend in part what your options are. Some of that will depend on the actual pre-existing conditions themselves, and some of that will depend on where you live.

If you're in the US, when your DH starts discussing retirement with the HR dept, health care is something that should be discussed also. What options are they offering in his retirement package? If they're not offering anything, what are the options available, they should be able to tell him? Does he qualify for federal? Do you?

If you both qualify for federal, then I'd also start exploring secondary coverage. I know my grandmother has a secondary coverage that covers some things federal doesn't, which helps with the costs of prescriptions and the like, since federal is very bare-bones.

If you don't qualify for federal, then you really need to talk to the HR dept. about options. Even if they're not offering you anything themselves, they'll be able to tell you whether there are options similar to COBRA or HIPPA coverage available to you.

If you consider a private insurance, I assume you have a gap between you are eligible for medicare? If so, than $1200 for two people might not be a bad offer. Do you work? Are you eligible for an employer program?